Deburring method for workpieces

ABSTRACT

A deburring method for finishing workpieces by machines using rotary tools and a gyro-finishing machine successively includes conveying the workpieces by an intermittently-driven charging conveyor with a given pitch, transferring the workpieces from the conveyor to each machine or holding the workpieces at stations of rotary tools. Such steps and processes are performed in parallel with each other and successively with all workpieces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a fully automatic finishingmethod, and more particularly to a deburring method which involvesremoving undesired scales or burrs from workpieces, such as cams ofparticular or complex profiles having a central bore and/or slits, aswell as conditioning the surface for successive operations.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In the workpiece deburring art, various types of apparatus such asbuffing, wire-brushing, barrel-finishing and other have heretofore beenin practical use. Such conventional devices involve considerable humanlabor during operation, and also produce many unacceptably poor qualityfinished products which have unprocessed burrs still remaining orexcessively processed burrs. Thus, such devices present disadvantageswith regard to the operating efficiency and the quality of thus obtainedproducts. It is also noted that the conventional apparatus cannotperform simultaneous satisfactory deburring and surface conditioning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the disadvantages of the conventional devices, the presentinvention provides improved deburring and surface conditioning methodwhich involves using different devices such as rotary tools andbarrel-finishing means at different steps depending upon the deburringpurposes and whose operations are performed during controllablepredetermined time intervals, and workpiece conveying means whichcarries workpieces between the different steps or devices. The structureaccording to the invention eliminates human interventions during thedifferent, uninterrupted deburring operations and produce satisfactorilydeburred and surface conditioned products. It is therefore worthwhile tonote advantages with regard to labor savings and operating efficiency.

Objects to be processed for deburring or surface conditioning accordingto the present invention are workpieces of complex shapes such as camsshown in FIGS. 15 and 16, and shaft bearing assemblies shown in FIGS. 17and 18, which have a central bore 2, 2a, slit 3, burred edges and roughsurfaces. The method according to the invention involves the use ofmeans to remove undesired burrs present along the bordering edges of alladjacent sides of a workpiece directly by means of tools (such asconical- or frustoconical-tipped rotary tools later to be described) andfinishing the surface by methods including buffing and gyro-finishing.The last-mentioned finishing process involves both surface conditioningand deburring operations, but the invention aims specifically at thedeburring process and thus the descriptions which follow hereinafter aredirected to the deburring method. Accordingly, the method according tothe invention essentially involves the use of, for example, buffingmeans, a barrel-finishing means to permit both deburring andsurface-conditioning processes, workpiece conveying means to move theworkpieces successively to the above means, to hold the workpiecestightly at buffing stations, to transfer the workpieces from theconveying means to the machine and vice versa, by robot-hand means.

The above-mentioned rotary tools may include cloth buffs, formed plastictools embedded with abrasives (so-called non-woven tools), wire brushes,plastic tools of fibrous abrasive media, all having certain elasticand/or plastic properties and abrading power. It should be understoodthat the rotary tool referred to herein means any or all of the toolsmentioned above. The barrel finishing apparatus is available in variousmodes of operation such as rotating, vibratory, centrifugal, recipro-and gyro-finishing operations. Among those, the line operation whichpermits workpieces to be processed successively at certain regularintervals of time is best suited to the present invention, whereas theother modes of operations such as rotating, vibratory, centrifugal, andrecipro-finishing operations, which permit a number of workpieces in afinishing container to be finished therein at a time and with so-calledbatch system, are inconvenient and not suited for the present invention.In view of the above observation and consideration, the presentinvention employs the gyro-finishing operation mode, whose constructionand operation are described below in further detail for the convenienceof basic understanding thereof. A cylindrical tub has a vertical shaftextending therethrough, and rotates the tub, which contains an amount ofabrasive media and wherever necessary an amount of compound solution. Inworking condition, the tub is either in stationary or rotary positions.Workpiece holders are further provided which hold workpieces bychucking, and are mounted in position on a turret. In operation, theturret causes an orbital movement of the workpieces with the holdersturning on their axes, thereby allowing workpiece surfaces to be rubbedagainst the abrasive media in the tub. It should be noted that duringthe finishing operation, workpieces held by the holders are alwaysplaced in the tub and only one or two shafts which carry workpieceswhose finishing has been completed is lifted or moved up, independentlyof the other working shafts. A workpiece to be finished can be attachedto the lifted holder in place of the finished workpiece which has beenremoved from the same holder. In other words, workpieces in deburringand finishing operations can be processed without stopping during theexchange operations of the workpieces. During the steady workingoperation, all workpieces are always placed at their respectivepositions in the various deburring means and on the conveyors, and aresuccessively transferred, from one position to next, each time theoperation for the preceding workpiece is completed. Whenever one or moreworkpieces to be processed are placed in a first position, the samenumber of finished workpieces are taken away from the final stage to betransferred to a further process outside the system, if required. Inaccomplishing operations for the above-described workpieces requiringthe slit deburring, center-bore polishing, center-bore deburring andsurface conditioning operations, automatically, either of two methods ispossible. One is a method in which successive workpieces carried by anintermittently-driven charging conveyor are transferred to a deburringmeans from the conveyor, processed and again returned to the conveyorduring time-intervals in which the conveyor remains stationary. Theother is a method in which a workpiece holding assembly is provided forholding a workpiece in position on the conveyor which remains stationaryso that the workpiece is processed during the conveyor stationaryinterval, and after completion of that process, the workpiece is thentransferred by the conveyor to the next means. In both methods, afinished separate conveyor may be provided for transferring workpiecesfrom the gyro-finishing means to the subsequent steps. It should benoted that individual workpieces which have been processed by thegyro-finishing means are taken away from the gyro-finishing means atregular intervals, during which intervals workpieces are charged intothe system from the first charging position. Thus, the second conveyorhas the same moving pitch as the first conveyor. After thegyro-finishing treatment, washing, anti-corrosive treating, air-blowing,drying and other treatments may be provided along the second conveyor.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

A principal object of the present invention is the provision of meansfor both surface conditioning and removing burrs from profiledworkpieces satisfactorily by unmanned operation. All involved deburringand surface conditioning devices including a gyro-finishing machine arein a line operation and are operatively connected with each other bymeans of conveyors and robot hands.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and features of the present invention will become clearfrom the detailed description of several preferred embodiments whichfollows hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a workpiece deburring apparatusembodied according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of a slit deburring apparatus embodiedaccording to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the central bore finishing anddeburring apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a front elevation view of another deburring apparatus to belocated before the gyro-finishing apparatus;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a front elevation view of a gyro-finishing apparatus embodiedaccording to the invention;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged-scale front elevation view of a workpiecefinishing unit to be used with the gyro-finishing apparatus;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged-scale cross-sectional view of a workpiecechucking device in the gyro-finishing apparatus;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XIII--XIII inFIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of fluid pressure piping system in thegyro-finishing apparatus;

FIG. 15 is a front view of a typical workpiece to be processed accordingto the invention;

FIG. 16 is a side view of the workpiece shown in FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 is a plan view of another typical workpiece to be processedaccording to the invention; and

FIG. 18 is a side view of the workpiece shown in FIG. 17.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1 to 6 illustrate the construction of the deburring apparatusaccording to the present invention which includes deburring means forvarious purposes depending upon the kind of deburring process which willlater be described in detail. An example of a workpiece, such as a cam,to be processed by this apparatus is shown in FIGS. 15 and 16. Referencenumeral 4 designates a conveyor which carries workpieces successively inalignment and delivers workpieces one after another into the deburringsystem. A conveyor, designated by reference numeral 5, carries finishedworkpieces from the deburring system to a next step outside the system,and has a substantially similar construction to that of the conveyor 4.Robot hand assemblies 6, 7, 8 and 9 which are per se known are operatedto hold workpieces and move the same from one process to another, and,if necessary, to allow workpieces to vary their positions and to bechucked in the various positions. In FIGS. 1 to 6, the deburringapparatus comprises slit deburring means 10a and 10b, central borepolishing means 11, central bore deburring means 12a and 12b andgyro-finishing means 47. These individual means will now be describedspecifically. The slit deburring means 10a, 10b is shown in detail inFIGS. 3 and 4, and is generally structured on a frame 13. Morespecifically, a plurality of guide bearings 14a, 14b are rigidly securedto the frame 13, and guide posts 15a, 15b extend through the guidebearings 14a, 14b, respectively, for up and down movements for tools22a, 22b. The guide posts 15a, 15b are secured at one end to asupporting base 16. A supporting rod 17 secured at one end to thesupporting base 16 is connected at the other end to a piston rod 19 of afluid-operated cylinder assembly 18 mounted on the frame 13. Thesupporting base 16 has a pair of electric motors 20a and 20b mountedthereon and has downwardly extending flanges 21a, 21b at the lower partsof which rotary tool shafts 22c, 22d are rotatably connected to themotors 20a, 20c to be driven by the motors by way of power transmissionmechanisms such as belts 23a, 23b between the shafts and motors. Rotarytools or buffs 22a, 22b are removably fixed to the shafts 22c, 22d asshown in FIG. 3, and are brought closer to both sides of a slit of aworkpiece as the supporting base 16 is moved up and down by thefluid-operated cylinder 18. Thus, the tools 22a, 22b on the oppositesides of a slit 3 of a workpiece can remove burrs on the slit 3 of theworkpiece. Guide rod 15a, for example, has dogs 24a, 24b at the upperportion thereof for actuating micro switches 25a, 25b, 25c to limit theupper and lower ends of the stroke of the tools. Adjacent to the slitdeburring means 10a, 10b described above are arranged central borepolishing means 11, and central bore deburring means 12 a, 12b, theconstructions of which are illustrated in detail in FIGS. 5 and 6. On apedestal are mounted flames 26a, 26b within which means 11 and 12a, 12bare installed. As these means are constructed identically with theexception of the tools used which have different shapes and purposes,the following description applies to both means. Reference numerals inFIGS. 5 and 6 have subscripts a, b and c, and the subscript a indicatesthe central bore polishing means while the subscripts b and c indicatethe central bore deburring means. Horizontal shafts 27a, 27b, 27c extendacross the respective frames 26a, 26b, and sliders 28a, 28b and 28c arefitted around the shafts 27a, 27b and 27c slidably along the axes of theshafts. Each of the sliders is connected on one side to a piston rod30a, 30b, 30c of a respective fluid-operated cylinder 29a, 29b, 29csecured to the respective frame 26a, 26b. Thus, alternate introductionand extraction of pressurized fluid into the piston sides and piston rodsides of the cylinders cause the sliders to reciprocate to the right andleft in FIG. 5. The sliders 28a, 28b and 28c have tool heads 31a, 31band 31c , respectively, rigidly secured thereto, to which rotary toolsor buffs 32a, 32b and 32c are to be fixed for rotation. Motors 33a, 33band 33c mounted on the tool heads drive the tools by way of suitabletransmission means such as belts. A tool 32a has a cylindrical shape ofa slightly greater diameter than the bore diameter of a workpiece shownat 1b in FIG. 5, and tools 32b and 32c are conically or frustoconicallyshaped as shown in FIG. 5 to be adapted to remove edge burrs on the bore2 of the workpiece shown at 1a in FIG. 5. A workpiece holding assemblyis provided to prevent the movement of the workpiece during thedeburring operation of the tools. This assembly comprises a workpiecesetter supporting member 34 secured on the pedestal, a fluid-operatedcylinder 35 on the supporting member 34, and workpiece fixers 37a and37b secured to the tip of the piston rod 36 of the cylinder 35. Moreparticularly, the workpiece fixers include a fixer mounting plate 38 towhich the fixers are slidably secured and which is operatively connectedto the piston rod 36 of the cylinder 35 and is guided by guide poles 39aand 39b. One of the guide poles, which is shown as 39b in FIG. 6, hasdogs 40a and 40b which are located to actuate micro switches 41a and 41bon member 38. Rods 42a, 42b and 42c extend from the sliders 28a, 28b and28c, respectively, and have dogs 43a, 43b, 43c and 44a, 44b, 44c at theforward ends thereof which actuate micro switches 45a, 45b, 45c and 46a,46b, 46c, respectively, whereby limits of movement of the rotary tools31a, 31b and 31c can be determined.

Referring next to FIGS. 9 and 10, the gyro-finishing means for use withthe invention is illustrated, and as shown its structure is accommodatedwithin a frame which includes a base plate 108, vertical supports 131extending from the base plate 108 and a top support plate 132 over thesupports 131. A central shaft 130 extends through the center of theframe and is rotatably supported at its upper end by a bearing securedto the top support plate 132 and on its lower end by a bearing 154 whichalso supports a rotary shaft 129 for a finishing tub. The central shaft130 has an upper plate 133 and a lower plate 134 which rotate with theshaft 130, and disposed between the plates 133 and 134 are a pluralityof workpiece finishing units generally designated by reference numeral127 in FIG. 9. Each of the finishing units, individually designated by127a, 127b, 127c, etc. has a shaft 102 therein to which a workpiece issecurely attached by means of a chucking device shown in FIG. 12. Eightunits are shown, in the figure, but the number may be varied optionally.For the convenience of description, those units are numbered 127a, 127b,127i c . . . and 127h in the clockwise direction in FIG. 10, and commonparts or elements for all units are given alphabetical symbols a, b, c,. . . and h which indicate the corresponding units. In the followingdescription of the operation, a part or element whose reference numeralis not accompanied by an alphabetic symbol, such as workpiece attachingshaft 102, will refer generally to each shaft concerned. A part orelement represented by a singular form with alphabetic symbol maytypically represent a specified part or element whose behavior isdifferent from that of the other part or element of the same numeral.Each workpiece attaching shaft 102 is rotatably supported by arespective bearing 103, and each bearing 103 is rigidly secured to arespective base plate 104 of each unit (see FIG. 11). A respectiveelectric motor 105 is also rigidly mounted on each base plate 104 fordriving each shaft 102 by way of a respective belt 106 or any othersuitable means such as a chain. Rigidly secured to each base plate 104is a forward end of each piston rod 109 of a respective fluid-operatedcylinder 107 which is secured to the upper rotating plate 133. Thus,movement of the piston of respective cylinder 107 up and down causesmovement of the respective unit 127 therewith. Each workpiece attachingshaft 102 is hollow through which a respective central shaft 110extends, the two shafts forming a dual-shaft structure. A spring 111 isinterposed between the upper portion of each central shaft 110 and therespective hollow shaft 102, normally urging shaft 110 to assure araised position relative to the respective hollow shaft 102. Disposedabove each of the central shafts 110 is a respective fluid-operatedcylinder 112 which is rigidly supported, e.g. by means of the respectivebearing 103 fixed on the respective base plate 104, and is fixed to theupper rotating plate 133. Thus, at the lower position of the piston rod113 of each cylinders 112, the forward end of the piston rod 113 forcesthe respective central shaft 110 down against the action of therespective spring 111. The lower end of each central shaft 110 has a pin114 as indicated in FIG. 12 which supports a bell-crank assembly forholding a workpiece. Each assembly consists of two arms 115 and 116having at first ends thereof elongated apertures receiving therespective pin 114 (see FIG. 13). Thus, movement of each central shaft110 up and down causes a pivoting rotation of the crank arms 115 and 116about the respective pivot pins 117 and 118 so that the arms can holdand release workpieces. A respective horizontal rod 119 is connected toeach piston rod 113, and has an iron piece 120 at the forward endthereof which actuates a respective micro switch 121 secured to asupport 131 of the frame for supplying signals of the positions of thecentral shafts 110. The number of these micro switches 121 correspondsto that of the workpieces attaching shafts 102. A micro switch 121 isprovided for each of the shafts, and can detect whether the crank arms115 and 116 are opened or closed to hold a workpiece from its verticalposition, and whether the shaft is facing the fed workpiece and is readyto hold a workpiece from its horizontal position, that is which microswitch 121a through 121h the dog 120 is actuating. A respective outercylindrical casing 122 surrounds each base plate 104 as shown in FIG.11. A vertical support arm 123 is secured to each casing and has an ironpiece 124 at the top thereof. Each iron piece 124 actuates a microswitch 125 fixed to the support 131 of the frame. The number of microswitches 125 corresponds to that of the workpiece attaching shafts 110.Micro switches 125 are spaced at regular intervals, and one micro switch125 is provided for each shaft 110. This micro switch 125 can detectwhether the central shaft 102 is in its lower position or raisedpositions, namely whether a workpiece is submerged in an abrasive mediaand is ready to have a finishing process or is moved up away from theabrasive media. A respective horizontal member 126 is rigidly connectedto the top of each cylinder 107, and has three micro switches 135, 136and 137 at the forward end thereof. A respective iron piece 128 isprovided on the support 131 of the frame and is adopted to actuate microswitches 135, 136 and 137. Each iron piece 128 has three differentpositions indicative of the positions of the respective finishing unit127, i.e. at the position for finishing, at the position for removingthe finished workpiece or at the position for chucking the unfinishedworkpiece. Thus, when each iron piece takes these three positions, itactuates the corresponding micro switches to issue the signal that eachfinishing unit is in the corresponding operations. It is describedherein that each finishing unit can have three different operations, butthe number of the operations may be two or more than three. In otherwords, finishing units 127 are arranged in their respective positions asshown in FIG. 10 to revolve intermittently. When each is placed inspecified positions, it is instructed to have specified operationsdepending upon the specified positions. For driving the finishing units127 together with the upper and lower rotating plates 133 and 134intermittently about the central shaft 130, there is shown and describedan example in which a known Geneva gear is used. The construction isshown in FIGS. 9 and 10, in which the Geneva gear 138 has n number ofteeth which corresponds to the number of desired indexes, and isconnected to the central shaft 130 as shown. Reduction gears 140 aremounted on the top plate 132, and have a disk 139a provided with twopins 139 which engage gaps between the adjacent teeth of the gear 138.An index motor 141 is also mounted on the top plate 132 for driving thereduction gears 140. This index motor 141 is energized by electricalsignals to rotate one full turn each time a signal is received, and onefull turn of the disk of the reduction gears causes a 1/n rotation ofthe central shaft 130 by way of the Geneva gear 138 engaged by two pins139 on the disk 139a. For operating fluid-operated valves on therotating portion, a central fluid introduction valve 142 is provided inthe central shaft 130 for allowing pressurized fluid to be supplied toeach valve through an introduction pipe 143, as shown in FIG. 10. Tothis end, a swivel joint is rotatably connected to the top of thecentral shaft 130 for connecting a pipe 143 and the central valve 142. Afinishing tub 144 is disposed on the bottom plate 108. The finishing tubmay be either stationary or rotatable, and a rotatable tub is shown anddescribed in FIG. 9. The rotatable tub is fixed to its drive shaft 129to which a chain wheel or pulley 145 is also fixed. Thus, the shaft 130or tub 144 is rotated by an electric motor 147 by way of the chain wheelor pulley 145 and reduction gears 146. A compound tank 148 forcirculating and cleaning compound solution in the tub 144, and a source149 for supplying pressurized fluid are additionally provided.

The construction according to the invention has been illustrated, and adescription of its operation will now be given. Workpieces to beprocessed are supplied piece by piece on the workpiece charging conveyor4 as shown in FIG. 2. The placement of workpieces in carried out fromthe direction of arrow 50, either by another feeding device, which isnot shown in the figure, or manually. Workpieces carried by the conveyor4 are gripped piece by piece by the robot hands 6 at the end of theconveyor 4. The robot hands 6 then move each workpiece toward thechucking device 10c disposed between the slit deburring means 10a and10b, and the chucking device 10c chucks it. This chucking can beachieved by placing a workpiece in a fixed position by allowing theholder 10c shown in FIG. 3 to hold the workpiece from a side of theworkpiece. When the chucking is completed, it is detected by means of adog and micro switch, and a signal from the micro switch energizes themotors 20a and 20b to rotate tools 22a, 22b, and causes pressurizedfluid to be introduced into both sides of the piston in thefluid-operated cylinder 18 alternately, which in turn alternately lowersand lifts the rotating tools 22a and 22b, which contact with the slit 3of the workpiece, thus removing burrs on both sides of the slit 3 of aworkpiece. The period of this deburring operation is controlled by atimer, and at the end of the operation a signal from the timer causespressurized fluid to be withdrawn from the piston side of the cylinder18 while it causes pressurized fluid to be introduced into the pistonrod side of the cylinder 18, thus stopping the tools 22a and 22b attheir upward position. The workpiece is then transferred to the centralbore polish means 11 and then to the central bore deburring means 12aand 12b. Reciprocation of rotary tool 32a will polish the inner bore ofthe workpiece by the polishing means 11, and thereafter rotary tools 32band 32c will remove burrs from the edges of the central bore. Afterthese operations are completed, the workpiece is gripped by the robothands 7 which transfer it toward the inlet side of the gyro-finishingmeans 47 from which it is handed over to further robot hands or loader48 which place it in position on the gyro-finishing means 47. For theoperation of the gyro-finishing means 47, the finishing tub 44containing abrasive media and if necessary compound solution is alwaysrotating, and workpiece attaching shafts 102, other than the shafts 102aand 102h, with workpieces attached thereto, are moved down to submergethe workpieces in the media and to rotate the workpieces therein. Thus,the surface conditioning is performed by rotating the workpieces and thetub. Finishing units 127a and 127h which are located to face the loader48 and unloader 49 are in their raised positions by action of cylinders107a and 107h which have pressurized fluid introduced into the pistonrod sides thereof when a finished workpiece is removed from thegyro-finishing machine and an unfinished workpiece is chucked into themachine. For example, when the unit 127g with a finished workpiece is tobe moved to the outlet position occupied by unit 127h in the drawings,the micro switch 135h is actuated in response to the presence of theiron piece 128h on the support 131, and delivers a signal to confirmthat the finished workpiece is ready for releasing. The signal actuatesan electromagnetic valve 152h (see FIG. 14) to allow pressurized fluidto be introduced into the piston side of the cylinder 112h, thus causingthe central shaft 110h to be lowered. Holding arms 115h and 116h locatedopposite the unloader 49 releases the finished workpiece and deliversthe workpiece to the unloader 49. In parallel with or simultaneouslywith the above operation an unfinished workpiece is charged into theunit 127a. A workpiece to be gyro-finished is carried by the loader 48to the space between holding arms 115a and 116a and is gripped thereby.The unit is lowered and moved to the position of 127b, whereat finishingof the unfinished workpiece is begun. To describe this operation in moredetail, a signal from the loader 48 actuates the electromagnetic valve152a to allow pressurized fluid to be introduced into the piston rodside of the fluid-operated cylinder 112a, thereby moving the centralshaft 110a upwardly which in turn operates the holding arms 115a and116a to hold the workpiece. Then, the dog 120a on the piston rod of thecylinder 112a responds to the limit switch 121a fixed on the frame 131and the limit switch 121a is actuated to deliver a signal which in turncauses the loader 48 to be moved away from the arms 115a and 116a andthe motor 105a to be energized. Simultaneously, the signal also actuatesthe index motor 141 to turn, indexing the upper and lower rotatingplates by 1/n turn and the finishing units by 1/n turn therewith. As theindex motor 141 completes each turn, a signal is delivered to allowworkpieces to be moved in position on and away from the gyro-finishingmeans. The gyro-finishing workpiece, which has been moved away from thegryo-finishing means by the unloader 49, is then transferred onto thecarrier 53 (see FIG. 1), which in turn forwards the finished workpiecesfor after treatments, for instance, water-washing, air-blowing,anti-corrosive treatment processes, etc. if required, from which theworkpieces are moved onto the conveyor 5 which carries them toward anext processing step.

The functions and operations of the various deburring and surfaceconditioning means have been described individually, but it should benoted that during the successive operations, workpieces are placed intheir respective positions for the corresponding processes, and alloperations involved are performed simultaneously throughout the systemso that workpieces are transferred from one process to another atperiodic intervals and successively until they have been treated at allthe involved processes within the system. Moving out of the system,workpieces are then forwarded to a next process.

Another embodiment of the present invention concerns a deburringapparatus designed to remove burrs from a center-bored and flangedworkpiece shown in FIGS. 17 and 18. The principal part of this deburringapparatus is the gyro-finishing means as described in the earlierembodiment, and additional deburring steps using the various rotarytools are provided prior to the gyro-finishing step. The construction isshown in FIGS. 7 and 8, which do not show the gyro-finishing means andafter-treatment. In this embodiment, the gyro-finishing means isstructurally and operationally similar to that shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.In FIGS. 7 and 8, an intermittently driven conveyor 60, which is per seknown, runs on a pedestal 61, and carries successive workpieces at thesame pitch P. At a deburring station A involving removing burrs from thelower bore, an upright fluid-operated cylinder 64 with its piston roddirected downwardly is rigidly fixed to a frame 63 on the pedestal 61,and the piston rod has a workpiece holder 65 at the forward end thereof.Disposed below the holder 65 is a slider supporting base 66 which issecured to the pedestal 61, the slider supporting base 66 having aslider 67 provided slidably therein. A motor 70 with a vertical shaft isfixed on the slider 67, and a rotary tool 69 is installed at the end ofa vertical shaft 68 penetrating the slider 67. Tool 69 and tools 75a,75b, 81a, 81b, 81c and 81d which are later described are buffs, such asclothes, wires, plastics clothes, plastics wires or other materialsincluding abrasives as mentioned regarding the earlier embodiment ofFIGS. 1 to 6. These buffs must have better elastic properties andabrading power. Tool 69 is driven for rotation by means of motor 70. Theslider 67 including tool 69 has a vertical sliding movement caused bythe operation of a fluid-operated cylinder 94 rigidly secured to thepedestal 61. At a deburring station B, whereat burrs are removed fromthe upper side bore, an upright slider supporting base 71 is rigidlyfixed on the pedestal 61, and has a slider 72 provided slidably relativethereto. Two spaced bearings 73a and 73b rigidly secured to the slider72 support rotary spindles 74a and 74b, respectively, which are spacedby a distance equal to the pitch P. Tools 75a and 75b are to be attachedto the forward or lower ends of the spindles 74a and 74b. The diametersof the tools 75a and 75b are slightly greater than the central bore sizeof the workpiece. One tool, shown by 75a in the drawing, in tapered andthe other 75b is straight. The tapered tool can debur the edge of thehole and the straight tool can polish the inner bore of the hole.Secured to the upper ends of the spindles 74a and 75b are pulleys 76aand 76b which are driven by respective motors 77a and 77b rigidlymounted on the slider 72. The slider 72 carrying the above-mentionedparts is made to slide vertically by the operation of a fluid-operatedcylinder 97. At deburring stations C and D are, two sets of tools, andtwo buffs in each set rotate in opposite directions, and each set isarranged to move vertically. Description will now be made of the stationC. A slider supporting base 78 is rigidly fixed on the pedestal 61, anda slider 79 is provided on the supporting base 78 for sliding movementcaused by the operation of a fluid-operated cylinder 83a. Two motors 80aand 80b are rigidly mounted on the slider 79, below which shaftscarrying cylindrical tools 81a and 81b are arranged in parallel with theshafts of the motors 80a and 80b, and have pulleys 82a and 82b driven bythe motors 80a and 80b, respectively. The peripheral surfaces ofcylindrical tools 81a and 81b can polish the upper surface as well asremoving burrs from the center bore and outer edges. Two tool attachingshafts rotate in opposite directions to permit a uniform removing ofburrs from the center bore and edges. Deburring station D performs thesame finishing and deburring as is done at the station C. The station Dhas a similar construction to the station C, containing some commonparts which operate in the same manner as the parts in the station C andwhich are designated by subscripts c and d. The tools at the station Dare therefore designated by reference numerals 81c and 81d. A workpiececlamping assembly for stations B, C and D includes a pair of bearings85a and 85b rigidly secured to a plate 84 fixed to the pedestal 61, andshafts 86a and 86b sliding inside the respective bearings 85a and 85b.The shafts 86a and 86b have a plate 87 secured thereto, and the plate 87has rods 88a, 88b, 88c and 88d secured thereto which correspond to thestations B, C and D, respectively. The forward ends of the rods areV-grooved and adapted to hold the round-shaped workpiece. Afluid-operated cylinder 93 is rigidly disposed on the plate 84, theforward end of its piston rod being secured to the plate 87. Theoperation of the above-described embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 8 will now bedescribed. Workpieces are fed piece by piece manually or automaticallyin the direction of arrow 92 and onto carrier 60 which is drivenintermittently with the same pitch P. During the operations which areperformed successively and simultaneously, individual workpieces arealways placed at each position 95a, 95b, 95c . . . 95x, 95y and 95z, andare advanced one by one toward the right in the drawings. It is assumedthat during the movement of the carrier 60, all of motors 70, 70a, 70b,80a, 80b, 80c, 80d are rotating. At the beginning of the operation, whenthe first workpiece on the carrier is placed at the station A, a signalfrom the carrier, indicating the workpiece is now ready to be held,causes pressurized fluid to be introduced into the piston sides of thecylinder 64 at station A and the cylinder 93 station D, thus operatingthe holder 65 to hold the workpiece at station A and holding rods 88a,88b, 88c and 88d to hold workpieces at stations B, C, and D, which areactually not present at stations B, C, and D when the leading workpieceshown at 95z at the beginning of the operation is at station A. Theworkpieces are advanced from 95a to 95b one by one, and at thestationary state, all stations from 95a to 95z are filled withworkpieces and the above-mentioned operations are performed on eachsystem. When the workpiece is held at station A, pressurized fluid isalternately introduced into the piston side and piston rod side of thecylinder 94. This operation of the cylinder 94 causes movement up anddown of the tool 69 while rotating in order to polish the inside of thecenter bore from the lower side and remove burrs from the lower edge ofthe center bore. At station B, while the above operation is beingperformed at station A, the cylinder 97 is also operated to causemovement up and down of the tools 75a and 75b in order to remove burrsfrom the upper edge of the center bore and to polish the inside of thecenter bore on the upper side, respectively. At stations C and D, twosets of tools 81a, 81b and 81c, 81d are installed, and each set havingtwo tools rotating in opposite directions can polish the surfaces andremove burrs from the peripheral edges of the center bore. A workpieceat the position 95z in FIG. 7 indicates it has gone through all of theinvolved processes, and is then forwarded to a next process to beperformed by the gyro-finishing means.

In the prior art, the deburring has been performed by hand filing andeven if deburring is mechanized, buffing or barrel finishing have beenused separately. Barrel finishing was found to be the most effective andinexpensive method for deburring, and was also demonstrated to beeffective for surface conditioning for successive operations as well asdeburring. From the point of view of the line operation, workpieces mustbe finished piece by piece at the same interval and the so-called batchfinishing system is not suitable for automation. An improvedgyro-finishing method and apparatus have to be developed and this methodwas found to fulfil the above requirements. However, the gyro-finishingmachine cannot always debur all burrs, although gyro-finishing isperfect for surface conditioning. Buffing methods are added and candebur the burrs that cannot be removed by gyro-finishing. In accordancewith the invention, since line operations combining buffing andgyro-finishing are performed, an automated ideal deburring without humanlabors is established by invention.

Although the invention has been described with refererance to theseveral preferred embodiments thereof, it should be comprehended thatvarious changes and modifications may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:
 1. A method for deburring workpieces by the combinedoperations of finishing by rotary tools and gyro-finishing, said methodcomprising:providing an intermittently driven carrying means, at leastone deburring apparatus having rotary tools and positioned adjacent saidcarrying means, and a gyro-finishing apparatus located downstream ofsaid deburring apparatus with respect to the direction of movement ofsaid carrying means; positioning a plurality of workpieces on saidcarrying means at locations spaced at regular intervals along saiddirection; intermittently operating said carrying means to alternatelymove distances or pitches equal to said regular intervals duringmovement periods of time and to be stationary during stationary periodsof time, and to thereby intermittently move said workpieces in saiddirection; and during such intermittent movement successively subjectingeach said workpiece to successive operations comprising:during astationary period of time transferring a selected said workpiece at adeburring inlet position from the respective said location thereof atsaid carrying means to said deburring apparatus; at said deburringapparatus, during a stationary period of time, subjecting said selectedworkpiece to a deburring operation by rotating and reciprocating saidrotary tools on surfaces of said selected workpiece to be deburred, tothus form a semi-finished workpiece; returning said semi-finishedworkpiece to the original respective location thereof with respect tothe remainder of said workpieces which has moved forward at least onepitch in said direction, while moving a succeeding said workpiece tosaid deburring inlet position; during a stationary period of timetransferring said semi-finished workpiece from said original respectivelocation to said gyro-finishing apparatus at an inlet thereof, whiletransferring a succeeding workpiece from the original respectivelocation thereof to said deburring apparatus; chucking saidsemi-finished workpiece in a rotary spindle of said gyro-finishingapparatus, and during stationary periods of time subjecting the thuschucked workpiece to a gyro-finishing operation by rotating said chuckedworkpiece while being submerged in abrasive media of said gyro-finishingapparatus, to thus form a finished workpiece; and returning saidfinished workpiece from said gyro-finishing apparatus back to saidcarrying means, while transferring a succeeding semi-finished workpieceto said gyro-finishing apparatus at said inlet thereof.
 2. A method fordeburring workpieces by the combined operations of finishing by rotarytools and gyro-finishing, said method comprising:providing anintermittently driven carrying means, at least one deburring apparatushaving rotary tools and positioned adjacent said carrying means, and agyro-finishing apparatus positioned adjacent said carrying means at aposition downstream of said deburring apparatus with respect to thedirection of movement of said carrying means; positioning a plurality ofworkpieces on said carrying means at locations spaced at regularintervals along said direction; intermittently operating said carryingmeans to alternately move distances or pitches equal to said regularintervals during movement periods of time and to be stationary duringstationary periods of time, and to thereby intermittently move saidworkpieces in said direction; and during said intermittent movementsuccessively subjecting each said workpiece to successive operationscomprising:during a movement period of time moving said carrying meansto bring a selected said workpiece to a position adjacent said deburringapparatus, and then stopping said carrying means; during a stationaryperiod of time holding said selected workpiece at said position on saidcarrying means, and subjecting the thus held workpiece to a deburringoperation by rotating and reciprocating said rotary tools on surfaces ofsaid held workpiece to be deburred, to thus form a semi-finishedworkpiece; releasing said semi-finished workpiece from its heldcondition; moving said carrying means to move said semi-finishedworkpiece to a position adjacent said gyro-finishing apparatus, whilemoving a succeeding workpiece to said position adjacent said deburringapparatus; transferring said semi-finished workpiece from said carryingmeans to said gyro-finishing apparatus at an inlet thereof; chuckingsaid semi-finished workpiece in a rotary spindle of said gyro-finishingapparatus, and during stationary periods of time subjecting the thuschucked workpiece to a gyro-finishing operation by rotating said chuckedworkpiece while being submerged in abrasive media of said gyro-finishingapparatus, to thus form a finished workpiece; and returning saidfinished workpiece from said gyro-finishing apparatus back to saidcarrying means, while transferring a succeeding semi-finished workpiecefrom said carrying means to said gyro-finishing apparatus at said inletthereof.
 3. A method as claimed in claims 1 or 2, comprising subjectingeach said workpiece to plural deburring operations by means of separatesaid rotary tools.
 4. A method as claimed in claims 1 or 2, furthercomprising continuously rotating said abrasive media.